hypoglycemia in dogs

[SIZE=-1]hypoglycemia in dogs, well who da thunk it.
today when i came home from work i let my hounds loose, DOC the money munching old man that i have, was, quite frankly, fucked up, he fell getting out of his crate was lethargic, dazed and unable to keep his balance, i took him out and he pissed all over himself and me, basically uncontrolled and tried to vomit. at first i thought that he had gotten into something that he wasn't supposed to poison ect,,,, or had a stroke, he is 11 he's getting old, i know this, but his pupils were fine, and a quick nuro exam were borderline, i checked his crate and around the house for signs of him eating something bad, but to no avail, i fed him and gave him a rumadyl (aspirin for dogs) he ate (should have been a sign) but was still acting drunk, (yea he likes beer) dazed and confused, unable to stand and kept tipping over when sitting, well mr stoic fezzy was getting upset, i took him to the vet in a bit of a rush. quite frankly i thought i was going to have to put him down, he was that fucked up. the vet looked at him and he did have a fever but in all other ways (other than being generally fucked up) was fine...... so...... xrays, blood work, antibiotics ......... 402$ and 4 hours later, im in my moms kitchen eating Wendie's looking at good old normal DOC beggn and bright eyed, nothing wrong with him..... im sitting there giving him french fries and bitching, my mother, out of the blue, says "he's an old man, he was hypoglycemic, old people have to eat". 5 mins on the internet and i have my answer. we changed there feeding cycle from 3 meals a day to 2, they were active all day (in his case hyper active) and he hadn't eaten since 7am, hell [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]now that i think about it[/SIZE][SIZE=-1], i felt like shit too, .

i dont know what bothers me more, the fact that all i had to do was give him a fucking coke, or that i didn't know what to do , was panicking and it cost me 400$ and quite frankly really really upset me, im a fucking mess. [/SIZE]

my dogs do the same thing ,usually if i forget to feed them during the day ..they usually eat a few times a day . i never even thought about it being hypoglycemic . they start shivering a lil then puking yellow foam , gross .

Wackbag Staff

I've always had our dogs on a 2x a day feeding schedule with a bunch o' treats in between. Now that the weather's hot, they aren't eating as much even though they get to chill inside in the air conditioning. One of their food bowls was still mostly full from yesterday morning when I got home from work last night. Gave them a refill last night and this morning, same thing. One bowl is still mostly full.

I've got two identical stainless-steel bowls. They aren't assigned, and both dogs eat out of both bowls as they see fit. I've been stuffing their Kong toys with peanut butter and tossing them in the freezer overnight. When I leave for work each day I get them out of the freezer and let them have at it. It keeps them busy for quite some time. So maybe that's why they aren't eating as much.

It's definitely better to let them eat 3-4 times a day or as they see fit instead of a huge meal 2x a day, even if they aren't older.

BTW, if anyone has a dog with seizures - stop using Heartgard and switch to Interceptor for heartworm meds. My father's dog was having seizures and all kinds of te$t$ found nothing wrong. Changed his food and everything in case it was allergy-related. Nothing helped. I talked to our vet who said they don't use it at all because too many dogs have reactions to it. I also did some research online and found it can cause seizures in some dogs, usually specific breeds.

I took this fine information to my father and he wasn't receptive at first, but I persisted. He then went to his vet and they weren't receptive either and insisted on trying the "clinical" version of Heartgard for 3 months, which supposedly was more pure, no additives, etc. It made no difference. My father insisted on switching off the Heartgard, and once the switch was made, the seizures diminished in frequency and severity and after a few months were gone all together. It's been about 6 months now, and the dog's been seizure-free.